Trump’s national security blueprint aims to combat China’s rise in Latin America

The White House released a national security blueprint on Friday, marking a sweeping assertion of US influence in the Americas. The framework pledges to prevent non-Western powers from expanding their foothold across the Western Hemisphere, a clear reference to China’s growing presence in the region.

In US strategic parlance, the “Western Hemisphere” refers broadly to the Americas, a geopolitical space long regarded as a place Washington has sway over. This belief harks back to the Monroe Doctrine, a 19th-century policy that warned European powers against meddling in the newly independent nations of the Americas.

Long invoked to justify US involvement in Latin America throughout the 20th century, the doctrine established the hemisphere as Washington’s sphere of interest. Now, the Trump administration is updating that framework for a new era of great-power competition.

The strategy declares that the United States will “deny non-Hemispheric competitors the ability to position forces or other threatening capabilities, or to own or control strategically vital assets, in our Hemisphere”, introducing what officials call the “Trump Corollary” to restore US pre-eminence across the region.

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The White House described the Western Hemisphere as part of America’s “Homeland Security Zone”, treating the stability and political alignment of neighbouring countries as matters of national defence rather than diplomatic preference.

South China Morning Post